As luck would have it, the timing of my decision to shift the focus of my technically-focused writing from my US company's site to this one coincided perfectly with Matt Trout's declaration of the Enlightened Perl Iron Man Competition. As I am a long-time Perl fan and would like to see it continue to grow and thrive into the future, I will naturally be taking part.

The challenge is a simple one: Post at least one blog entry related to Perl each week. Tell the world - the world outside of the Perl community - what you're doing with Perl, what you want to do with Perl, what you've discovered in Perl. Keep at it for six months, and you get a nifty Iron Man badge. Simple, no?

The participants include a wide range of Perl programmers, including some of the brighter lights in the Perl world. If you would like to follow their entries as well as my meager contributions, there is an aggregate list of all Perl Iron Man postings at Planet Iron Man.

Perl fans: Check it out, see what you can learn, and consider joining in as well.

Perl haters: Check it out and see what today's Perl looks like - it's not just "executable line noise" any more.